Adelaide to Melbourne

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I decided to book myself on a tour to get from Adelaide to Melbourne. The 3 day trip began, and as I got on the tour bus in the early hours of Monday morning I wasn't sure if I was on the right bus, as the majority of the passengers were Danish and a lot older, and some families. I was the only English person, and to be honest I was a little worried that I wouldn't enjoy the trip. But everyone on the bus were lovely and very friendly. There were also 2 Canadian girls who were a good laugh. Our tour guide Ben was fantastic, so friendly and was so enthusiastic about everything we saw and chatted with everyone. We also had another tour guide, BT, who had been a tour guide in the red centre for years, but wanted to learn this new route. She was as mad as a hatter, but hilarious and told the most amazing stories. She actually went to work in the opal mines when she was 21, she was the only female. She made a fortune when she was 25 when they found a large amount of opal, so she managed to buy her own house.

We saw some amazing coastline along the Great Ocean Road, and some beautiful gardens, huge sand dunes, which we climbed up and raced down. We went to a beautiful national park where we saw wild koalas and kangaroos. One of the main attractions was the 12 Apostles, which we could only see one of as it was so foggy. We also went to the Loch Ard. Loch Ard was a ship which left England in 1878, and was shipwrecked on this coastline, which is famous for being dangerous, lots of ships got in trouble here, and there are many shipwrecks. Of the 54 passengers and crew on the Loch Ard only 2 people survived, an 18 year old girl named Eva who was travelling to Australia with here family, and an 18 year old boy named Tom, who was a member of the crew. Tom clung to a lifeboat and was washed up in the gorge, now named Loch Ard, and Eva clung to a chicken coop, but was unable to swim. Tom saw her and dragged her to safety. He managed to climb the cliff edge and get help. A big story was made out of the two survivors and everyone wanted a romatic ending, Tom actually proposed to Eva, but she turned him down and returned to live in Ireland. Tom became a ships captain.

We also visited Bells Beach which is the beach 'featured' in the final scene of the film Point Break, however the scene was not filmed there. It is however a world famous surf beach and the venue for world surfing titles. There were loads of surfers out there when we went and the waves were pretty big.

Here are a few pics of the trip....

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Photos

Me and big lobster
Australia seems to have an obsession with size

Old fashioned lighthouse
No wonder there are so many shipwrecks here

Beautiful gardens
The Sunken Garden known as the Umpherston Sinkhole, in Mt Gambier, Soth Australia

Bells Beach
The beach 'featured' in the final scene of the film Point Break, however the scene was not filmed there.

Comments

[Eve]

Hello!
This looks amazing Sarah! Your photos are beautiful, althought he lobster loks a bit scary, lots of love Eve xxx